How could I leave this behind?
by SpicyTaco67
Summary: One-shot. Why did Sasuke run away from Konoha after the Chunnin Exams? This is the happier take on it. Rated T for language.


Naruto Uzumaki stood atop the head of the First Hokage at the Valley of the End, staring at the raven haired boy across the valley. The raven haired boy, Sasuke Uchiha, turned around with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Ah Naruto. I was wondering when you would get here. What happened to the rest of those losers that were chasing me?"

Naruto glared at the boy as he clenched his fists. His nails dug into his skin so much that blood started to drip from his palm.

"You bastard..."

Naruto didn't even raise his voice to his usual level and even over the roaring sound of the falls Sasuke heard him. Naruto knew he had heard him because he let out a dark chuckle and his smirk grew.

"And why, exactly, am I a bastard?"

Naruto finally snapped and started screaming at Sasuke "Why do you want to leave?! You have people who would risk their lives for you and a girl who is crying for you back home! Why?!"

"Oh do mean that bitch Sakura? Ha please that skank was doing nothing but wearing me down."

Naruto snapped his gaze to meet Sasuke's own cold stare. He growled and his nails began to grow sharper.

"Take that back..."

"Why would I? That's all she ever was to me. A worthless whore who did nothing but weigh me down. She is nothing!"

Naruto blinked and his eyes suddenly changed from cerulean to a demonic red with slits for pupils. He growled again and yelled "I SAID TAKE IT BACK!" Naruto screamed and a blast a wind flew Sasuke's direction. Sasuke jumped back as the wind hit Madara right in the forehead. When the dust cleared Sasuke was surprised to see that the top of Madara's head was gone.

The self-proclaimed Avenger looked around for Naruto but saw him nowhere. Suddenly, Sasuke was sent flying towards the water at extreme speed and just as he was about to hit he was kicked towards the canyon wall. He impacted and then rolled onto the ground. His eyes opened slightly to see a pair of feet walking off of the water towards him. Then he felt himself being picked up by the shirt collar and pinned against the wall.

Sasuke opened his eyes fully to see an enraged, red-eyed Naruto staring him right in the face. Naruto growled and punched Sasuke in the gut with his free hand which caused Sasuke to cough up blood. Naruto slammed Sasuke against the wall again and leaned in only inches from his face

"Now listen you traitorous sack of shit because if you don't I will rip out your throat. You can insult me. You can insult Konoha. You can talk all you want about how you are superior and the most amazing person alive but if you ever insult Sakura-chan again you can be sure that I will be there with a body bag. Understand?"

Sasuke was slightly frightened by the absolutely insane attitude Naruto was showing. He had no idea the idiot had this kind of power. Naruto kneed Sasuke in the gut and threw him across the water. After skipping a few times Sasuke managed to use his chakra to stay balanced. He stood on the water and activated his Sharingan, expecting another attack.

Naruto was standing on the bank of the river with his fists clenched and his eyes to the ground. Sasuke heard Naruto begin to speak in a quiet tone of voice, like all of his anger had suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a strong mix of anger and sadness.

"Look Sasuke, I understand that your family was killed. I can never know that pain like you did. But my childhood was worse than yours and you know what I did? I fought against everyone, trying to prove that I was worth something, but no one would believe me. You have everyone's respect. You have everyone's love. You have a girl waiting for you back home. A girl that I would be willing to go through hell for. You have a sensei who favors you and would teach you any technique you asked. You can go home to all this but do you know what I go home too?"

Sasuke screamed back at Naruto "No I don't! But at least you don't have to go back to the home where your entire family was killed! You don't have to sleep in a bed knowing your family was killed by your our brother just down the hall!"

Naruto lost his soft tone of voice and glared at Sasuke "I have to go back to lonely apartment with rotten food because no one will sell me fresh produce! I have to wear orange jumpsuits because that is all people will sell me! I have to go back to fighting for my life just because people can't see past the GOD FORSAKEN DEMON IN MY STOMACH!"

Sasuke's anger was halted and was replaced by shock "D-Demon?"

"Yes a Demon! The day I was born the 4th Hokage sealed the Kyuubi inside of me! The villagers have hated me for it! I have been tortured in more ways than one through my life. But," Naruto cast his gaze to the ground again and regained his soft tone of voice "the one thing that hurt the most was being alone. I never could come home to a home cooked meal or an open set of arms. That's why I am going to bring you back. I'm not losing a brother."

Naruto looked back to Sasuke and got into a fighting stance. Sasuke shifted into his own stance and prepared for an attack. Naruto started by making ten shadow clones. All the clones ran at Sasuke. Sasuke jumped back and started going through hand signs "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The fireball managed to destroy all of the clones but when the smoke cleared the real Naruto was no where to be seen. Sasuke concentrated and jumped back just in time to dodge an uppercut from Naruto, who swam underneath him. Naruto chased after him and they began a Taijutsu fight on the shore.

Both Sasuke and Naruto threw punches, kicks, and every other move they knew. Sasuke was getting frustrated that even with his Sharingan he couldn't gain an edge over Naruto. Suddenly, Naruto managed to get an uppercut through Sasuke's guard which sent Sasuke flying back a few feet.

Sasuke used his hands to catch himself and flip onto his feet. When he charged back he noticed that deflecting Naruto's moves had become immensely easier. Sasuke saw an opening and he kicked Naruto hard in the gut, sending him flying back over the water. The Uchiha's eyes widened in realization as he ran over to the water to check if he was right. He glanced at Naruto, who was now standing on the water, and smirked at him.

"Well dobe there is no way you can beat the 3rd stage Sharingan so you might as well go home now."

The two boys charged each other again and commenced in another Taijutsu match. Naruto managed to land a few hard blows but Sasuke managed to land twice as many on Naruto. Sasuke jumped back and started preparing a Chidori while Naruto did that same with a Rasengan. Both Shinobi finished their attacks as they charged at each other.

A large explosion shook the valley as the two powerful attacks collided with one another. Sasuke and Naruto both found themselves throw back into the walls of the valley from the explosion.

When Naruto pulled himself from the rubble he saw Sasuke already standing on the opposite side of the valley. He was still disoriented so Naruto had an idea. Seconds later, two shadow clones threw Naruto across the valley.

Sasuke was rubbing his head, trying to pull himself back together. Last time he checked Naruto was still in the wall so he should be able to take a short break. Sasuke suddenly felt himself get kicked in the face and get sent flying back into the wall.

Naruto made another Rasengan and charged at the wall but Sasuke managed to jump out just before the Rasengan made contact. He threw kunai at Naruto who responded by dodging and throwing shuriken back at him. Sasuke spun in mid air so all of the shuriken missed.

The ninja continued fighting a stalemate until finally Sasuke had enough and turned on his curse mark, straight to level two. He charged at Naruto with an unnatural speed and kicked him into the waterfall. As soon as Naruto pulled himself out of the water he was picked up and a Chidori was shoved right through his chest. Sasuke unceremoniously dropped Naruto into the water and began to walk away from the scene, thinking the fight was over.

When Sasuke was about ten feet away from where he dropped Naruto he began to notice a red glow coming from underneath the water. Sasuke turned just in time for Naruto to shoot out of the water and send him flying with a knee to the chin. When Sasuke landed not so gracefully on his feet he saw that the whole in Naruto's chest was completely healed and that Naruto himself was surrounded by a red chakra cloak, complete with a chakra tail swooshing behind him. Sasuke glared at the transformed Naruto and used the large hands on his back to fly towards Naruto with a burst of speed.

Now that Sasuke and Naruto had gone all out the fight was much more intense. Every hit was bone shattering, well for a regular human it would have been, and the speeds were extreme. Finally, while Sasuke was dealing with a small army of shadow clones by blasting fire jutsu into the fray, Naruto managed to jump behind Sasuke and grab his right arm. He wasted no time in breaking the arm and sending Sasuke flying into Madara's statue with a swing of his chakra claws. While Sasuke was flying though he had already started a fire jutsu for the clones and even through the pain managed to aim it at Naruto instead, who was then sent flying into the statue of the 1st Hokage.

Sasuke was panting as he stood, clutching his arm. Even with the curse mark's help that was going to take a long time to heal. He had to finish this now.

Naruto stood from the small crater and he too was panting from exhaustion. He knew he had to end this fight.

Sasuke began gathering chakra in his left hand for a Chidori. He put all of his remaining chakra into it. Slowly but surely his hand began cracking with lightning that was a regular blue like his chakra and black lightning which came from the curse mark.

Naruto made a Rasengan without the help of clones. He used his own chakra and some of the Kyuubi's which ended up forming a purple Rasengan.

The combatants jumped to each other as the same time, screaming the name of their opponent

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

Then the attacks collided.

Water was blown everywhere as chakra raged wildly, seeming to actually radiate off of the two team mates. They both fought for dominance as they stared dangerously into each other's eyes. All of their remaining chakra was poured into this last attack.

After a minute of struggling Naruto saw Sasuke smirk. The Chidori started to weaken and right before the Rasengan hit Sasuke in the shoulder Naruto swore he heard him mutter "dobe" underneath his breath.

The severely sounded Sasuke spun one last time into the statue of Madara. Naruto landed on the water. He turned back to see Kakashi arriving on the scene. He gave him a lopsided grin and a shaky thumbs up before collapsing.

Sasuke woke up in a completely white room in a comfortable bed. He looked down to see the bandages covering his body along with multiple wires connecting to various places. His shoulder still felt sore from the last Rasengan he took.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a girl with pink hair and emerald eyes. Shockingly, she didn't run in screaming or crying but instead she walked in with an expression that held sadness and slight...anger?

"Hello Sasuke."

Sasuke noticed to things about that small statement. The first being that there was no '-kun' at the end of his name and the second was the tone of voice. It sounded like she was seconds away from slapping him in the face.

"What do you want Sakura?"

"I want to know why."

"Why what?"

Sakura snapped and slammed her fist against the wall "Why the hell did you leave?! What does Konoha not have that you need?!"

"Power."

"Apparently it does because if you are so strong that Konoha has nothing more to teach then tell me how Naruto beat you."

Sasuke stiffened at this and clenched the white sheets in his hands. He knew she was right but his pride would never admit it.

"The dobe got lucky."

"Actually you were the lucky one. Lady Tsunade showed me the reports and she told me that if Naruto put any more chakra into that last Rasengan your whole arm was have actually been blown off. He still had plenty of chakra after the fight he was just physically exhausted. You, on the other hand, almost died from chakra exhaustion along with multiple physical injuries including a severely broken arm. Face it Sasuke. Naruto kicked your ass and he was holding back."

Sasuke at this point was staring at his sheets with his expression between sadness and a small amount of anger. Anger because he had been beaten by Naruto and sadness because he realized Sakura was right. He was wrong. But again, his pride got in the way. Sasuke just sat in silence as Sakura continued

"So why did you leave? I know that mark on your neck has something to do with it but you wanted this didn't you? You had to have a reason. So tell me Sasuke why did you leave?"

"I was afraid"

Sasuke had whispered those words so quietly that Sakura wasn't sure if she imagined them or not. Her face registered a great amount of shock.

"W-What?"

Sasuke snapped to her with hate in his eyes "I was afraid! I am a coward! I don't want to get close to any of you because my brother will kill you and," Sasuke's eyes and voice softened and the, much to Sakura's surprise, he choked back a sob "I don't want to lose any of you. Naruto was right that my family died but he didn't know I had found another family. Team Seven is my family now but I never wanted to show it because I was afraid my family would be taken away again."

"We aren't going down without a fight teme."

Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to see a bandaged Naruto leaning on the door frame. He had on his orange pants and bandages all over his chest. He walked in and sat down in one of the chairs that room had.

Sasuke immediately stiffened and tried to shove his emotions back down but he couldn't control them and he started crying. Sakura sat down next to Naruto and let a few tears slip from her eyes and Naruto just started straight ahead with a blank expression. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto spoke "You know that we could help each other right? We could train together and take down Itachi together."

"I'm not going to let him kill anyone else."

"Then lets take him down together Sasuke. Let me help you."

Sasuke continued to sob to himself "No, you don't understand. He would use you to get to me. I have to cut ties with you to keep you safe."

"Sasuke I have that same fear every day. But I know that if something happens I will find the strength to protect the ones I love."

"How do you know that fear?"

"Remember what I told you during our fight?"

It took Sasuke a minute to realize to what he was talking about. He had no idea what that had to do with anything so he asked "What does that have to do with anything?"

Sakura was confused but decided to just listen so she could figure out what they were talking about. Naruto stared Sasuke straight in the eyes

"There have been frequent attempts on my life every since I was born. I'm afraid they will use one of you to get to me all because of something I can't control. But I use that as a reason to get stronger, not a reason to run away."

Without another word Naruto stood and took off all of the bandages from his upper body. Both Sasuke and Sakura were both frightened and angered by the countless scars that littered his body. There were stab wounds, burn marks, and even whip lashes on his back.

Sakura started crying heavily and Sasuke just started in shock. Naruto shrugged with the same blank expression on his face and said "Even Kyuubi can't stop scars." Sasuke just nodded dumbly while Sakura was caught off guard by the statement. She slowly put all the pieces together until she came to a realization.

Naruto had the Kyuubi inside of him.

"Y-You have the Kyuubi inside of you?"

Naruto turned to her and nodded sadly. He waited for the slap or the insults but instead he was attacked by a hug. Sakura was hugging him from behind and was crying into his back. He turned around and hugged her until she calmed down enough to talk. She slapped him upside the head and tried to talk through her tears "W-W-Why d-d-didn't you t-t-t-tell us? We c-c-c-could h-have helped."

"I thought you guys would resent me and I didn't want to lose my friends. I didn't really know myself until I graduated from the academy."

Sakura pulled herself away and stood with a serious expression on her face. She crossed her arms and stared at both boys accusingly and they squirmed under her gaze. She talked to them like a mother scolding a child "Now listen you two because I'm only going to say this once. If you keep any secrets from the rest of this team ever again then I will personally put you in this hospital. Understand?" She gave her team mates the scariest look she could muster and she got the result she wanted. Both boys gulped and were sweating slightly as they stuttered out a "yes mam" in high pitch voices.

Naruto cleared his throat and said "That goes for you too Sakura-chan. You can't keep secrets either."

"What secrets would I be keeping?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head "Well you obviously need to stop hiding your undying love for me and just let it out dattebayo!"

Sakura's response was not a confession but instead she punched Naruto back through the door and into the hallway, scaring some passing nurses. Naruto groaned as he walked back in the room. Sakura was fuming at him and Sasuke chuckled. Sakura shook her fist in anger but then calmed down by taking a deep breath.

She smiled at the both of them and said "Well I have to go and talk to Lady Tsunade about something so I will see you both later."

She walked over to Naruto and he threw up his hands in defense while closing his eyes. He kept his eyes closed for a second until he felt something soft and slightly moist touch his cheek. He opened his eyes to see Sakura inches away from his cheek and he heard her whisper "Arigato for keeping your promise baka."

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her with mouths hanging open as they watched her walk out the door. Naruto looked back to Sasuke with his mouth hanging open and he kept switching his gaze back and forth from the door to Sasuke. He snapped out of his stupor and asked "You saw that right? I didn't imagine it?"

Sasuke nodded dumbly. He couldn't believe it himself. The Uchiha was about to continue on the topic until Naruto snapped out of his stupor and ran out the door yelling for Sakura to stop.

Sasuke smiled to himself as he thought "How could I ever leave this behind?"


End file.
